Embers After the Ashes
by TheWoodenPen
Summary: In ashes, Pyrrha Nikos and Tadashi Hamada meet in a world in eternal darkness and ash fall to journey back to their respective worlds but this land of darkness and ash unveil to them so much more than just their path back home.
1. Chapter 1 - End is but another beginning

Chapter 1 – End is but another beginning

Pyrrha had felt her aura had already run out after Cinder sent her slamming against a wall. The only thing she has now is her shield at hand. Cinder pulled back her bow string and aimed her arrow Pyrrha. As Cinder released it, Pyrrha tossed her shield at Cinder setting her shield on a collision course against Cinder's arrow. Her aim was spot on as the arrow disintegrates into molten bits but reformed past the shield without changing its trajectory. Before Pyrrha could realize, she yelped feeling a piercing pain in her right ankle and brought her to the ground.

It was too early to toss in the towel despite the pain but only to fall again for good. The arrow shattered in her ankle as it was made out of glass.

"It's unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours." Cinder spoke calmly as she strolled around Pyrrha, "…but take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you could never have imagined." Cinder lifted Pyrrha's face by the chin to smile down upon her.

"Do you believe in destiny?" Pyrrha asked with an undaunted look on her face.

Cinder's smile vanished hearing Pyrrha say that… so she answered: "Yes."

With that, Cinder rematerializes her glass bow and arrow drawing it back. She aimed it at Pyrrha's chest just as Ruby had arrived there. Cinder lets go of it. In an instant, Pyrrha felt her chest pierced with something burning. She gasped struggling to breathe as she felt a piercing pain and burn spread within her chest. Her body began to cease responded to her until it went limp. Cinder laid her hand on Pyrrha's forehead and a sudden burst of heat consumed her then all went dark.

"PYRRHA!" Ruby's scream pierced her ear.

Pyrrha awakens facing darkness. It was as cold as anyone imagined it to be but it was filled with fuzzy things just out of her vision's focus. It took for her a moment to realize that her back was on solid ground. She quickly sprung up as soon as she was fully conscious looking left and right frantically. Cinder, the Grimms at Beacon academy, Jaune and her friends. Her memory fuzzy and fleeting but she was sure of it. Ruby's voice was the last thing he heard.

"Ruby?" She called out loud into the dark but no answer returned to her.

She scans her horizon only to be greeted with more darkness and falling ash all around with only the line of the horizon visible by some faint dots of light from the sky. Those weren't stars she was seeing as she could tell they also fell with the ash. One of them fell onto to her palm, small and faint its light was but warm to the touch. It soon evaporated leaving her in the cold darkness once more.

Something told her that she wasn't in Beacon anymore. She tries to fetch the last thing she remembered but her memory fails her. For the life of her, she couldn't remember clearly what happened: only the fuzzy memory that Vale was under attack and she was battling Cinder.

Answers weren't here so she took out her scroll to see if she could get a hold of anyone at all but alas, there was no signal from where she was so instead she used it to light her path. One thing was for sure, she needs to get back to Beacon and to her friends as quickly as possible.

Without a clear direction to go on, she picks to walk forward cautiously. Though there was no breeze, Pyrrha could fill her body getting chilly as she went on. The emptiness in the dark doesn't seem to end but at last, it was just a hint of a shape at a distance, Pyrrha could make out something was there.

Getting closer, she steps on asphalt as ruins of building came to greet her out from the dark. A dark city was before her with buildings, though in ruins, were all around her, a much better alternative to the empty darkness from earlier.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" She called out.

Her footsteps were the only reply she had from the silent ruins. She wandered in deeper to look for anyone at all but it was clear at this point that this place was deserted. Not even a single Grimm seems to be present here.

She stopped in front of a fountain in the middle of a road junction where water was quietly still to reflect her image back to her. She took a seat by the fountain's edge and checked her scroll again hoping for at least a slither of signal but again, nothing.

"Okay, calm down, Pyrrha. You can figure this out." She told her reflection trying to rid her of anxiety.

With her thoughts collected, she went to the building next to the fountain. She pried the large door open at the entrance and took a peek inside. She could never be too careful with Grimm but the good thing is, it was empty. With the little scrap she could find lying around: pieces of wood from the broken desk and a few tattered curtains, she made a fire and bed for herself in the corner.

Without much to go on from here, it would be best for her to wait until the sun rises. There weren't any signs of Grimms being nearby at all but just in case, she keeps two pipes by her side. As the wood crackle in the fire, she dozed off hoping when morning comes, she would find a way back to her friends.

In the city of ruins outside, fewer and fewer of the bits of light fell from the sky. In the cracks and creaks, something slithers and festers out of their sleep. The real night has begun as all the lights that fell from the sky went out.

On the road of the ruins, a man in a hood ran huffing all the way. He lifts his beeping watch that displayed 6:00 pm on the dot and silences it to continue running. Horrid screeches followed him. They were close. He turns around quickly propping up his gun. He looked through his night vision goggles. He pulls the trigger and three barrels that light up spun at the end that started to fire out bullets rapidly. With each flash of firing, the man sees the monsters after him with much more detail. Long, skinny and burnt.

With the screeches heard, other shadow creatures gather from all around. With the situation he clearly sees changing, he takes a deep breathe figuring out this was a little going to take more than just bullets to stop this much. He pulls down a knob on his gun and the glowing barrels at its end pop out like a flower and started to spin like a circular saw. He charged in slashing his way through the horde.

A muted screech landed on Pyrrha's ear. It woke her but barely. It might have been her tired mind playing tricks on her but she sat up to take a look. She turned on her scroll for light but was greeted with nothing but the decrepit interior and her fire place only a pile of ash and smoldering ember now.

There wasn't a hint of the sun coming up yet so best to save her strength. As she lay back down, at the corner of her eye, something moved from within the building. She turned her eye to it but it was none other than just a tattered curtain being blown by the breeze. She's well aware it could've been her imagination but she could never be too careful.

Pyrrha stood up quietly. Her eyes scanned her surroundings for anything at all. She held her hand out activating her semblance to retrieve a pipe. A light tapping noise could be heard. Now she's sure it wasn't just her imagination but where was it coming from? Pyrrha advanced slowly watching every corner but she couldn't pinpoint the source of the tapping noise. With that in mind, she looks up.

There opened a mouth that snarled at her filled with jagged teeth. It dropped at her so Pyrrha quickly rolled aside. The little beast had sunk its teeth cleanly into the floor, a spider with a mouth on its back. It was unlike any Grimm Pyrrha has ever seen or heard about. It didn't seem to have a skeletal mask like the rest does. Whatever it was, it pulled its jaws out of the floor and charges at Pyrrha. It screeches as it leapt for her. Pyrrha swings her pipe at it and stabs it hard enough to embed it into the ground.

It screeched struggling to get out of its impalement. Strange that it wasn't dead yet so Pyrrha gets the other pipe and stabs it repeatedly. A number of stabs were made but it did not stop screeching in pain. By now a Grimm of this size would have evaporated. Something was off about this one.

A window broke letting in another shadow creature, a humanoid one bearing long limbs sharpened at the ends. Pyrrha quickly uses her semblance on the long and sharp debris in the room. She wanted to confirm something so she threw everything at the humanoid figure. The debris impaled the creature and pinned it against the wall. That should take out any Grimm of that size but the creature didn't stop moving.

It pulled itself forward letting the debris that skewered it slide through its body until it was free. Its wounds vanished and its eyes were locked on Pyrrha once more. The creature trudged towards her so she ran out of the window in a hurry. Are they even Grimm? What was this place even?

She ran past more of those creatures in the streets trying to get away but if she couldn't them, fighting them would be pointless. She could only dodge and weave through them. Each path she took lead only to more and more of them. They were coming out from everywhere. Her eyes had adjusted enough for the dark to see that every structure was crawling with those things. She ran through the horde but eventually ending up back where she started.

Cornered, she stood her ground and plans to fight anything that came at her despite knowing the creatures are un-killable. She grabs a plank ready to fight but gunshots faintly echoed in her ear. Someone else was here. She quickly weaves through the horde rushing towards the source of the sound.

She arrived by a road infested by these creatures and at the center of it, yelps of the perishing creatures could be heard with flashes of light coinciding with the gunshot sounds. Someone else was fighting.

It was the man in a hood holding his ground at the center of it. He fired a barrage of bullets at the horde incoming from both sides. Piles of corpses of the beasts lay before him but the horde advances towards him despite being at a snail's pace.

Pyrrha climbed a building getting away from a good number of the creatures and she saw the man in the hood do his work in the middle. A creature leaped overhead. He dodges barely as he scrambled to switch his weapon. Off balanced, the creature hits him with an arm swipe that knocked off his night vision goggles and hood. He retaliates by jabbing the creature with his circular spinning blade. The monster cried in pain. It knocked him away but left his weapon embedded in its torso.

Pyrrha gasps seeing this situation turn grim. The man landed against the wall and looks up seeing the creatures converging on him. Pyrrha took the risk and plunged herself into the fray. She weaves through the dense crowd of creatures and grabbed the weapon jabbed into the beast's side. She rips it out and cuts the beast in half. The creature was dying before her and she held the weapon that killed it.

Pyrrha caught the man's eye as she wielded his weapon. She looked at it for a few moments trying to get a handle on it. As the monsters converged on her, she quickly turns it on and shreds everything incoming with its spinning saw. She switched it back into a gun firing it at the creatures.

Pyrrha fights with his weapon as if she had owned it all along. She had no trouble of switching between its gun form and saw form. Her movements were on a different level. The man could hardly believe what he was seeing. She gracefully glided through the horde all the while firing at the creatures that were coming near him.

As effortlessly as she slays the monsters, countless more were coming. Inevitably, they would be overwhelmed. He had an idea of a way out but as he held it within his hood, he's not sure if it would even work. Pyrrha makes her way to him and helps him up. He grunts feeling sore from his beating earlier.

"Sorry." Pyrrha heard his grunt

"I'm alright. Listen, I have an idea." He said pulling out five glowing canisters from his hood.

"Dust?" Pyrrha muttered but she has never seen dust like this before.

"I need you to throw this up in the air as high as you can and shoot them."

Pyrrha looked a little confused at the request but with the monsters converging, she yanks them out of the man's hands with her semblance and tosses them up so high in the air that the canisters were mere dots of light in the sky.

"What?" He looked up dumbfounded as Pyrrha pulls the trigger.

The canisters shattered in a massive explosion of light. Slowly, an abundant amount of pieces of light fell upon them. The monsters silenced and mellowed down. All of them fell to the ground going back to sleep. Both of them could breathe a sigh of relief having the craze stop. The fall of the pieces of light seemed to cover almost the entire city scaring away the darkness.

"This is beautiful." Pyrrha loosens her grip as she looked up to the sky as if crowded with new stars.

The man looked at Pyrrha trying to get her attention with his small gestures but to no avail. He clears his throat instead. That snapped Pyrrha out of it.

"Thank you for saving me back there." He smiled

"Don't mention it. I would've been a goner too if I hadn't found you." Pyrrha smiled and raised his weapon, "My name is Pyrrha by the way. Pyrrha Nikos." She held her hand out for him.

"Tadashi Hamada. Pleased to meet you, Pyrrha."


	2. Chapter 2 - Cold and Lost

Chapter 2 – Cold and Lost

The city of ruins was miles away from where Pyrrha stood now. It looked like a smudge of light in the distance, a mere speck in the absolute darkness. Not even the horizon was visible. It was as if she stood in a void with her scroll out for light. Ashes fell onto her hand and disintegrate leaving nothing as a reminder of their existence.

She lets out a sneeze. The air here was many times colder than it was in the city. If she didn't have Tadashi's cloak over her shoulders right now, she would surely freeze to death. Tadashi on the other hand, was by the shore of the lake unraveling the knots he made to dock a raft after he finished loading up his scooter and weapon aboard it.

"Pyrrha, let's go." He signaled to her with his electric lantern.

They got on the raft, a little tight to fit the two of them in with Tadashi's scooter hogging up the center. Balance was important here at maintaining on the raft. A little splash of water on Pyrrha's feet lets her know how freezing cold it was. Tadashi pulled on a rope to move the raft. It anchored beyond the reach of their lights.

They were moving slow and Tadashi was putting in his all at pulling them across. He was huffing clouds of his breathe in the cold air.

"Can I help?" Pyrrha asked.

"I got this. Thank you though." Tadashi continued to pull.

He meant well, Pyrrha could tell but she can't let him drag her along as dead weight. At least, she should make the raft lighter on him. With what little strength she had, she concentrated on Tadashi's scooter and weapon and lifted them up only a small bit so that Tadashi won't notice her.

With one tug, Tadashi overestimated the force of his pull. He was caught off balanced and rocked the raft. It caused Pyrrha to wobble and soon, the both lost their footing on the slippery wooden surface and plunged into the icy water.

They were just by the shore of Tadashi's shelter: a small warehouse in the middle of the lake. Out they crawled onto the shore quickly and hauled the raft in. Thankfully, none of Tadashi's things fell off.

The cold cuts into them like knives now that they were soaked. Tadashi got the fire going once they were inside. Not much of a fire place he had. It was merely a bundle of stove burners upon a metal stand in the middle of the room. It burnt in a blue flame with yellow tails. Hot as it may be to be able to make its iron stand glow red, the cold was still relentless on their soaked bodies.

"I'm so sorry about that. I made the raft too small." Tadashi spoke with a gentle smile yet keeping his sincere tone.

Pyrrha lets out a sneeze. A cold is what she had now. She was shivering as if she had a convulsion. Tadashi, having been more accustomed to the temperature, had enough dexterity left to grab a spare cloak and put it over Pyrrha's head and shoulders.

"Thank you." Pyrrha clutched the cloak tightly

"I got some spare clothes. You better get out of those wet ones." Tadashi lay them down by Pyrrha and went on.

He was just in the other room shutting the door. The fogged window made it impossible for Pyrrha to see him clearly through it but she could tell he was changing. Though still shivering, the cold began to subside. She manages to see through the little stuff Tadashi had in this warehouse despite the dim light the stove fireplace gave off.

She looked onto the clothes he had. It was a big shirt and apparently a pair of jogging pants. For all she knows, this is the only other clothing he had on him.

"He seems like a nice guy." Pyrrha whispered to herself.

"All done." Tadashi came out of the door dried and dressed but stopped in his tracks, "You still haven't changing."

"Oh right!" Pyrrha stood up grabbing the clothes and entered the other room.

With the door closed behind her, she looked onto the fogged window seeing Tadashi's silhouette sitting by the fire patiently.

"I'm really sorry about this." Pyrrha said as she changed clothes

"Don't worry about it. I haven't seen anyone else since I got here. You helped me back there. Let me return the favor at least."

"No, I meant the raft."

"What about it?"

"I used my semblance."

"Your what now?"

"It's polarity. It allows me to control metallic objects."

"Okay? What did you do then?" Tadashi pretends to understand what she just said

"I kind of tried lifting your scooter and weapon just a little bit so it would be lighter on you but that got us soaked. Sorry about that."

Tadashi's attention peaked hearing that from Pyrrha. Thinking about it, the weight of the raft did suddenly change for no apparent reason as if mass was removed from it. What she says is truth. If what she said was true, it's nothing ordinary from where he's from. His suspicion may have been right. He needed more information to be sure.

Pyrrha on the other hand finished changing. She hung her wet clothing and opened the door. Tadashi looked to her caught for a moment dazed in her charm clad in the simple attire he gave her. He snapped his gaze away as soon as he was conscious about it and cleared his throat.

"Protein bar?" He offered lifting one to the air

"Gee… That's too much. I'm not hungry–really!" Pyrrha smiled really not wanting to trouble Tadashi any further with what little he had but her stomach growled aloud almost echoing throughout the building.

Tadashi hasn't budged his head to look at her to at least to spare her from some of the embarrassment. Pyrrha's face lit up red. Tadashi doubled his offer raising two protein bars now and so Pyrrha silently accepts it.

"I'm sorry." Pyrrha sat down and began eating onto the protein bar.

"Hey, it's really no trouble. I'm sorry I don't have anything better at the moment."

"I'll be out by morning, I promise."

"It's really not any trouble. Believe me. I'm really glad to see someone else here. I've been stuck here for two months now."

"Why? Are you on a mission? What's a huntsman doing here?"

"I can't really say where here even is. Lost… kind of."

Pyrrha looked down. Her vivid green eyes bounced about with her mind bombarded with a thought after another. Tadashi could read her distress written on her face.

"Hey, it's going to be ok."

"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!" Pyrrha lashed out, "Grimm were everywhere. The white fang unleashing them on the city. Cinder… She…"

Just there, her mind struggled to pull out a memory that wasn't there. It returned to her with fragments. A fight broke out. The Fall Maiden's power. A burning sensation in her chest. She couldn't put it to words but her heart pounded and she broke cold sweat with her breathe shortening as she tried to recall her lost memory.

"Pyrrha!" Tadashi firmly planted his hand on her shoulder snapping her out.

"I'm sorry. I– I don't know what's happening." Pyrrha looked at her hands too shaken up to even hold her protein bars.

She's worried sick of her friends back in Vale but she never seen herself shake like this. She was too weak to sit up straight and there Tadashi willingly gave her support.

"It's alright. It's ok. Shh… calm down. I'm here."

Her tears ran down her face over spilling her eyes lids as if she wasn't conscious of it. It took Pyrrha a few moments to regain a hold of her faculties. Her shivering stopped and her breathing returned to normal eventually.

"Pyrrha…"

"Yes?"

"Could you tell me how you got here?"

"I–I don't know. I can't– All I remember is waking up in the middle of nowhere."

"Anything just before that?"

That question made her hands shiver again and her chest felt like burning.

"Sorry." Tadashi held her hand steady, "You don't have to answer that."

"Tadashi…" She struggled to get out a whisper.

"I woke up here too about two months ago. I've been trying to get home ever since."

"What is this place?"

"I wish I knew."

Out and about in the dark field, a woman clad in black ran for her life. She caught her breathe behind a scorned tree. She clutched a notebook close to her chest. Shadow creatures ran past the tree she hid behind but they weren't chasing after her. They were running away. She could see everything around her brighten up and casted long shadows accompanied with slow footsteps drawing closer behind her. She froze still slowing her breathing down until it was barely audible. In her peripheral vision, she sees the man's arm burning like a candle but undamaged.

The man stopped in his tracks. She leaned harder against the tree and stopped herself from letting out a gasp lest he finds her. He stayed quiet for a moment. She didn't know what he was doing but the shadows were still meaning he hadn't budge from his spot just yet. He may know about her at this point. She pulled out her hand clad in a black long glove in front of her face. With her will's command, her fingers lengthen and sharpen to a point. If a fight could be avoided, she would do so at any cost but if it can't be helped then she would give the fight her all.

The man gave a groan and briskly walked onward. Eventually, his light vanished from where she stood. Her body loosens up and she could breathe easy. Her hands return to their normal form. She ran off after confirming the coast was clear. She smiled as she ran looking at the notebook she had. Her hope was alive and at hand. This may just work.


End file.
